From the Left to the Right: mainstream media

Showing posts with label mainstream media. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Jonathan Alter – Journalist, or Left-Wing Activist?

Written : July 24, 2013

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The MSM sees Mr. Alter as a journalistic genius.

Jonathan Alter, a member of the mainstream media (MSM), is held in high regard by his peers and is known by some mild terms, like ‘columnist’ and ‘author.’ His latest book is called, “The Center Holds, Obama and His Enemies.” Naturally, the use of the word ‘enemies,’ implies that those evil Republicans are out to get the president. It can’t be that we disagree with Mr. Obama’s policies, oh, no. It’s not that the president won’t work with our guys, naah. Alter discussed the untouchable’s second term on CSPAN’s Washington Journal a month ago, on June 24, 2013. Many in the MSM, I recall, predicted doom and gloom for President Bush’s second term, but not here. Now it’s, “This president can only succeed if the Republicans would just go away – or change their minds.” On TV, Alter showed confidence in the president’s ability to recover from the multitude of scandals; he has plenty of time. Sure, when you have a favorable media, I suppose you can overcome adversity, especially if all the nagging problems are completely ignored.

The Center Holds, Alter’s New Book, has a rather paranoid subtitle.

Alter says that the IRS and NSA stories are not going to be permanent blemishes on President Obama’s record. Given the media’s bias, he may be right. Like many of his colleagues, he’s excited about the possibility that if immigration reform doesn’t pass the House, the Republicans won’t be able to get their candidate elected in 2016. He, like many on the left, perpetuates the myth that all of a sudden conservatives support immigration reform, when we have been proponents of change in this area all along. Conservatives want to secure the border first, and then address the issue, but no one in the MSM wants you to realize it. They prefer that you believe the lie instead, that people on the right hate everyone, including grandma, and love dirty air and poisoned water.

One of Alter’s Other Books - The Promise.

Jonathan Alter also says that the Obama campaign stealthily visited the Latino community many times (quietly, to avoid attention), in order to win the hearts and minds of those voters. According to Mr. Alter, the immigration bill is now a direct result of that outreach… If the Republicans had done the same, though, they’d have been accused of buying votes, but in this case, it’s a wonderful tactic. If you believe there’s fairness in the media, google a left-wing pundit like Mr. Alter and a conservative journalist, like Sean Hannity, and compare the wording.

Jonathan Alter, neither a reporter or a journalist, is a liberal pundit.

Alter thinks he knows why the president is so silent. He said that President Obama learned that if he raised his profile too high, or come out in favor of something, the Republicans would immediately come out against it. Sort of like each time President Bush did the same, and the Democrats and the media came out against him. They called Bush ‘imperial’ for ‘hiding’ during his second term, but in this case it’s politically smart. Sure. I’ve seen that all presidents do this. There’s nothing smart or sinister about it, unless you push a political agenda.

Jonathan Alter spent 28 years at Newsweek, no wonder they love him.

It’s amazing how important the media moguls think President Obama’s legacy is, when they couldn’t wait for Bush to leave. While Mr. Alter says that his job is to hold politicians from both parties accountable, he only holds Republicans accountable. Democrats were not obstructionist during President Bush’s term, only Republicans are now, during President Obama’s. If Democrats had passed Bush’s Social Security reforms I’m sure Mr. Alter and the rest of the MSM would have had a fit, but if Republicans pass the Democrats’s immigration reform they are “stepping up.” This seems just a bit one-sided to me.

Alter’s an MSNBC kind of guy, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Mr. Alter is a liberal and a proponent of the president’s policies, but I don’t hold that against him. The media pretends that he’s a fair journalist, and that’s what I find reprehensible. He’s neither. To explain it to left-wingers, he sounds like a liberal Sean Hannity to me. I don’t say that my blog is journalism, but neither is Mr. Alter’s work. He’s as partisan as I am. He said that righties need to stop resisting Obamacare, no matter what we might think of it, and we need more investment in infrastructure. He’s right, some roads and bridges do need repair, but doesn’t that sound rather familiar?

ANTI-AGENDA 21 WEB SITES

Democrats Against Agenda 21

Stopping the UN in the Southwest

Please enjoy my previous posts related to U.N. Agenda 21:

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #1, 2/28/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #2, 3/27/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #3, 4/17/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #4, 7/10/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #5, 10/30/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #6, 12/04/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #7, 01/08/12

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #8, 06/12/13

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #9, 06/18/13

From the Left to the Right - Agenda 21 Post #10, 06/26/13

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Upcoming Debates – What Romney Must do to Win

Written : Sep. 25, 2012

A boss of mine once said, “If you want the manager’s job, you must act like a manager.” In the three upcoming presidential debates, the first on Wednesday, Oct. 3, Gov. Romney must seem like our president. I suggest he avoid too much criticism of President Obama, and surprise us all with details. Tell them your plan, Mitt.

The mainstream media (MSM) will come prepared to trip the Republican candidate, so Governor Romney will need to turn their loaded, biased questions into clear answers. Don’t let them distract you, Mitt, as they will try. Stay on target and tell the American people what you came prepared to say. They will try to make President Obama look like a champion of the people instead of the commander-in-chief of so many failed policies. They will attempt to make you look like a fool, a rich guy, one who doesn’t care. We need to see how much you do.

A few of my readers might not understand how the questions will be biased, so let me give one example. The chances are high the talking heads might ask something like, “Governor Romney, when you said you didn’t care about 47% of the people in that video…” - He didn’t say he didn’t care about anyone, he said they wouldn’t vote for him. And, they won’t concentrate on any of President Obama’s gaffs, believe me. Not all, but several will be softball questions to the president, watch and see. “What do you like best about being president?” is but one example.

As a presidential hopeful, Mr. Romney needs to tell us about his vision for a stronger America in a safer world, his better economy via job creation at an accelerated pace, better schools, better teachers, his ideas for a re-invigorated and active space program, (how’s that for education, my liberal friends?) – and specifically, how to get there from here. We have to see him answer the president’s talking points, you know, “trickle-down doesn’t work…a return to the Bush policies…pay your fair share…spread the wealth…Republicans do teacher-bashing…more people covered than ever before…the Republicans opposed me at every turn…tsunamis, ATMs…I can’t change Washington from the inside…Republicans favor dirty air and dirty water…” He must challenge the president at least three times, ask questions of him, point out his failings in front of him; policies, ideas, over-spending, and ideology. Mr. Romney must seem like the adult while not scolding the child.

Yes, the specifics are all there, Democrats - policies, issues, details, on his web site here or here, pay attention, please. Tell us you don’t like the ideas, but do stop saying that there are no ideas. Oh, and by the way, if you own a business, you did build that!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

It's Not Fair (Part II)

Written : Apr. 30 and May 8, 2012

Mainstream talking heads used terms such as vicious, hateful, violent, among others, for the peaceful, polite, and orderly Tea Party protests. CNN reporter Susan Roesgen, with a condescending, sarcastic, and angry manner, reprimanded and lectured several intellectual men and women in Chicago on April 15, 2009. Visibly upset that anyone might their right to protest the current president’s policies, she tried to educate the crowd to the benefits of the stimulus bill. Ms. Roesgen labeled the gathering a party for Obama bashers, but why would a reporter use such a partisan tone? The supposed objective observer, at times sporting a scowl, interrupted her interviewees many times. For no apparent reason, and with no proof to back her up, she went off about how FOX News instigated the protest. She said, although no foul language permeated her report, that the segment was not for family viewing. Mainstream Media reporters covered the Tea Party in the same, slanderous way (using the charged pejorative "tea baggers," for example), as if to defend President Obama against an imaginary onslaught. The Tea Party protesters, actually from different political parties, oppose taxes and skyrocketing debt, and the inability to have a say about where their money gets spent.

At the same time, when Occupy Wall Street protesters, some violent, took to the streets, many of the same microphone holders took them seriously. They described these mobs as peace rallies, often using understanding and sympathy for the ruffians. Clearly divisive, they pitted the one percent vs. the 99 percent. How clever! Occupiers, appearing unaware, uneducated, and disorganized, committed sex acts and perpetrated violence against one another. They illegally blocked thoroughfares, called for the beheadings of bankers, promoted theft and vandalism, and defecated on police vehicles. Yet, the media portrayed them as geniuses. You're right, it's not unfair, it's unbelievable!

CNN, doing the right thing, did not offer Susan Roesgen a contract beyond July, 2009. Ms. Roesgen, (I tip my hat to her), instead of quitting, quietly works in Illinois to salvage her career by moderating local news shows. However, CNN and the rest of the lame-stream media should examine their distorted, unethical, and biased-beyond-belief reporting.

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Genius, Part I

Aug. 28, Sep. 6 and 19, 2011

The mainstream media (MSM) calls the Tea Party extremist, racist, and unpatriotic, among other things. The MSM and the left blames this ‘third party’ for many ills, including the bad economy and American’s discomfort with the current status quo. When we write about or debate politics, one thing is true. Each of us has our own opinion, and each is unique. Therefore, when we say something is obvious, we are correct in our own mind. Yet, it’s one person’s opinion, and the other side sees things differently.

New York Times correspondent Thomas Friedman appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011. He is deemed a genius by many on the left for reasons which elude me. Friedman, according to host Howard Kurtz, is now backing an outfit called Americans Elect. The website, at http://www.americanselect.org, features the title: Are Politics As Usual Working For You? The choice Yes, points to the left, which is bathed in red (this color usually signifies blood, bad, conservative, or Republican). The other choice, No, points right, and is the blue half of the screen (blue is generally considered the good color, reserved for free-thinking, liberal, and Democrats). It’s easy to see where the website is headed… (The ridiculous implication here is that if you like Washington gridlock, then you're a conservative.)

During his broadcast, host Kurtz made sure to mention that the debt ceiling debate failed because the left and right couldn’t agree on “a way to raise the debt ceiling and keep the country out of default,” which wasn’t the true goal, but is the liberal talking point on the matter. As Friedman did his impression of a bobble-head, Kurtz continued, saying, “this frustrated everybody.” Yes, he said "left and right," but it's standard fare to hear that what stopped the whole thing was only Republican rigidity, and we hear often that the Tea Party wing are the trouble-makers. Every time a generalization is made, though, it’s wrong. And, everybody was frustrated by what, exactly? The rigidity of the left is what frustrated me. As we've seen, members of the MSM abhor the idea of any third party, but Kurtz in this case, made sure to open his mind with regard to Friedman’s third party idea. To twist a famous expression: What’s right for the proper goose is not necessarily right for the propaganda…

Thomas Friedman, the wily columnist, said he admired Republican President George H.W. Bush (41, or, Bush the Elder). But why, oh, so clever one? Friedman said it was because Bush believed in math. Okay, so far he had me. But he went on to generalize, “it’s hard sometimes to find a Republican who believes in math these days.” A nasty remark, but the demagoguery continued. Friedman said this Bush, who said, “read my lips, no new taxes,” then faced reality (as Friedman and the left say) and raised taxes. He said this, the fact that Bush raised taxes, was what paved the way for the good economy of the 90’s. Thomas Friedman’s attitude tells us, “it’s so obvious,” but Friedman's impressions don't make it so. Bush 41’s breaking of his “no new taxes” promise hurt conservatives so badly they still remember it vividly today, 23 years later. To improve the economy all lawmakers should join the pledge to not raise taxes.

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The MSM, Part II

Apr. 17, 19, and 26, and May 3, 2011

The MSM, that old time conglomerate of anti-conservative newspapers and TV networks, keeps implying that the Tea Party causes Republicans headaches, but it doesn't. I'm a Republican and I like The Tea Party - because it's honest. It's funny to see how members of the MSM don't get it!

Did you see that fun montage on TV, the one which revealed President Obama's favorite drinks? Most of the time, this kind of story starts with an over-the-top, abnormally jovial narrator, saying something like this, (remember, with more glee than usual): "Tea? No, that would be water. And, there you have beer and champagne, soda pop, a nice cold smoothie, a shot of Orange Juice..." At this point, the narrator's strikes a more serious chord. "And yes, ok, he also drinks tea... In fact, he's had to swallow quite a bit lately." The story implies the Tea Party stole Obama's line of 'change.' Next, the narrator's voice is somber and slightly irritated. "When a deal was struck to cut the budget by $38.5 billion - which is historic - they [those darn conservatives] had wanted $100 billion." (But, isn't this but a trifle compared to the $4.6 trillion, skyrocketing debt? For example, 38.5 billion is about 125 times smaller than the national debt.)

The same reporter next turns on the Tea Party. They defied John Boehner (the MSM loves such dissonance among conservatives), the narrator says, so he had to get Democrats to vote with him on the compromise. "This leads to the question, who's leading whom?" (They love to highlight what they see as problems for Republicans, don't they?) "They [Tea Party people], of course, are still going to want big tax cuts and that's going to be a fight because he [President Obama] also talked this week about government that is worth saving." Next the president says the following, "There's nothing serious about a plan [Rep. Paul Ryan's] that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires." The narrator finishes with, "Because to him [President Obama], that tea sounds like Cool Aid and that he's not drinking!" Did I make this up? No, my friends, it was narrated by ABC's John Donvan on This Week on Apr. 17, 2011. By the way, what is government that's worth saving?

Remember when reporters were inquisitive? They used to question everything, and ask the important people they interviewed meaningful and incisive questions, but not anymore. Notice how the mainstream media's reporters support Democrats and their positions? No? Then perhaps you missed Matt Lauer on the Apr. 6, 2011 edition of the Today show giving Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) a break by saying it all for him. Lauer said, "And when you look at some of the things the Tea Party and others on the far right are asking for: no funding for planned parenthood, no funding for climate control, public broadcasting..." Now, here comes the tough question (for Schumer) from Lauer, "Does this seem to you, Senator, that this is less about a fiscal debate or an economic policy debate and they [the Republicans] are making an ideological stand here?" Schumer could only respond with, "That's exactly, right, Matt. You've hit the nail on the head."

Yes, the MSM is quite a pain!

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

More Liberal Gaffs

Mar. and Apr., 2011

The mainstream media (MSM), which is defined as a left-leaning conglomerate of older news organizations, tends to imply that America and its capitalist system are failing. Watch, and you'll see it. Time Magazine featured two articles on the subject in their March 14, 2011 edition. The first, written by Fareed Zacharia, Yes, America is in Decline, was featured on the cover, complete with a finger - pointing down, a sign of pessimism. If you turn the magazine upside down, it's easy to see there's another featured cover story, No, America is Still #1, by David Von Drehle. The finger only points upward, showing optimism, when the magazine is turned on its head.

Zacharia hosts a show on CNN called GPS, the Global Public Square, which gleefully highlights the strengths of foreign countries and points out where and how the U.S. has failed. But, Zacharia insists he's not really being negative. His story is that America has placed itself in a position which makes it unable to lead the rest of the world. Other nations are on the rise, that's all it is. Yet, I watch with a skeptical eye, and wonder if there's an agenda behind all the claimed innocence.

The MSM's favorite pastime is suggesting there are wedges splitting the Republican Party apart. The Tea Party is just the latest wedge. Witness MSM reporters calling the Tea Party extreme. One example would be, "Senator, don't you think the Tea Party has caused the Republican Party to splinter?" I can think of a million of these because they're so common. And, this just happens to be a talking point of the Democratic Party. How do we know? Reporters overheard Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) telling Democrats on a conference call in late March, 2011 that he uses the word "extreme," because it's what "the caucus instructed me to do the other week." Schumer said, "The American people are seeing the Tea Party for what it is - extreme." The next time someone says the MSM is slanted right, remember this true story, and tell 'em, "It's just not true."

Try to recall the last time you heard an MSM interviewer say, "Oh, come on!" to a Democrat... Didn't think you could. From CNN's own transcript: The following is from Candy Crowley's interview with Donald Rumsfeld Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011:

CROWLEY: ... the Republican Party ... you've watched it go through a number of iterations. What do you think of this one with the Tea Party influence and the conservatives?

RUMSFELD: Fascinating. I find it...

CROWLEY: Oh, come on.

RUMSFELD: I find it very interesting...

So do I.

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From the Left to the Right

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Jonathan Alter – Journalist, or Left-Wing Activist?

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Upcoming Debates – What Romney Must do to Win

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

It's Not Fair (Part II)

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Genius, Part I

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The MSM, Part II

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

More Liberal Gaffs

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